Into the Night
by Count Zero
Summary: This is my first fanfic. This is a story about a shadowrun campaign that I have been dreaming up for about 6 years now. Pls be nice as I am not the best writer in the world
1. Prologue: Milk Run

Prologue: Milk Run  
  
The room was nearly empty. The dismal lack of furniture was matched by the bare, concrete walls. It was located in an abandoned warehouse on 272nd and Dodge; so far out on the fringes of the Omaha Metroplex that it rarely ever saw Lone Star patrols. The only two things even in the room were a bedroll and a man.  
The man sat cross-legged on the floor, all the more interesting because he wore a very expensive silk suit. In his lap, was cradled a cyberdeck - a modified Fuchi-6. The model was outdated, surpassed almost 10 years ago, but it's guts were state-o'-the-fraggin'-art. Since he was a kid, the man had been interested in computers. His parents, rich, only left him a million nuyen, just enough to start him on his current path, when they were killed. The Star said it was a random killing. The boy, in his late teens, smelled a corp.  
Banishing that line of thought from his mind, he opened his eyes. His hand slipped down to flip open the side panel on his cyberdeck. It fell open easily due to its frequent use since he purchased it, those many years ago. The well-used cord fell out, and he took the small jack at the end into his left hand. With a steeled look and a deep, cleansing breath, he slowly and deliberately raised the jack and inserted it into the plug behind his left ear.  
His perception shifted to that familiar, ultra-vivid glow of his own personal matrix filter. He was in 17th century France, one of the King's own musketeers. He looked down. His rapier hung at his belt and his uniform was crisp on his body. He looked up at the horizon, satisfied that everything was as it should be, and began walking toward the keep on the horizon that was the Omaha Seretech Offices.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Skidz sat in the van a block away from the building. Jacked in, he could feel the thrum of the idle engine beating in time with his heart. The 21-year-old rigger waited on com, watching for signs of Lone Star or Seretech security.  
Next to him, in a swivel chair, sat Shadowchaser. The elf sat eyes a blank mask matching his pale face. He looked up, finally, and exclaimed, "I've got it!"  
Skidz, anticipating what was coming, rolled his eyes. He hated playing along, thought it little more than an annoyance, but to be polite, he bit anyway. Everyone had to have a vice. "What?"  
"Dunkelzahn." Shadowchaser replied, grinning.  
"What about him?" sighed Skidz.  
"It was the Druids that did him." Shadowchaser stated, smugly.  
"Oh frag it, man! Will you stop that?" Skidz snapped.  
"What?! He was letting out too much with that trideo show of his. Since the druids and the Alliance are responsible for keeping the metaplane door shut." Shadowchaser said defensively.  
"There you go with that Alliance stuff again. You know, you shouldn't take everything you read on that board seriously."  
"There is nothing wrong with Secrets Decksposed. It's merely an informative."  
At that moment, the van's side door slid open with a thud and 2 bodies leaped in, one short, one long, and slammed the door shut behind them.  
"Thank you," breathed Skidz.  
"Conspiracy Theorists of the world, unite?" asked the dwarf. Skidz nodded.  
"Stow it, Pirate. Who asked you anyway?" pouted Shadowchaser.  
"Whaddya got?" asked Skidz.  
"The perimeter's clear, and all looks quiet. The entrance we scoped wasn't guarded by anything except cameras and a maglock. If Io can pop those, we should be in business," said the tall man.  
"Scratch, when is it ever that simple? If it were, why would corps ever need us?" Skidz commented.  
"Hey, I prefer to be an optimist," Scratch said, a little self- righteously.  
Pirate cocked his Remington Roomsweeper, "I prefer to stay alive."  
  
* * * * * *  
Night settled on the French countryside as Io crept up to the keep. Keeping in the trees, he remained alert for any signs that his presence had been detected. Two guards circled the parapet at regular intervals, looking over the countryside for intruders. Io felt confident that he could get in without being seen. One of his contacts, Jimmy - a fixer, had given him some info on a possible backdoor, although he did not know the passcode. No matter, Io was one of the best codebreakers in the Matrix, barring the greats - Anubis, Count Zero, Fastjack, etc.  
He ran up to the stone wall of the keep, out of the view of both of the guards. The backdoor actually didn't look like a door at all - merely a keyhole in the wall. Io took out his lockpicks and went to work. In short order he had picked the lock and a door carved itself out of the side of the keep, swinging inward. Io looked up to make sure he hadn't been seen by the guards and stepped inside. The stone door closed behind him. He moved through the keep to another outer wall where a door was located. The door was locked from the inside and a guard was at a watch hole next to it, looking outside, with his back to Io. He wasted no time in stepping up behind the guard and slipping his rapier between the guard's shoulder blades. The guard disappeared. Io unlocked the door, then looked out the watch hole and winked. He then moved back down the hallway and began a quiet search of the floor, looking for other denizens of the Biotechnology Firm's keep.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
The observation drone that Skidz had set to watch the camera registered the blinking light underneath the lens. He turned to his comrades; "Io has control. Time to go."  
Scratch, Pirate, and Shadowchaser all got out of the van and hurriedly moved to the door, which was now unlocked. "I told you that decker was good," remarked Pirate as he pulled open the door.  
Scratch didn't dignify the jab with a reply, but led the way into the building. The room they were going to was just down the hall a ways and with his low-light vision, Scratch didn't see anything in the hall. The trio crept quietly toward the objective, a laboratory where Seretech was conducting some new drug research. They had been hired to simply deliver a vial from this laboratory to their employer, Mr. Johnson. That was not his real name, of course. One of the rules of the biz was that the employer did everything he could to remain anonymous. They tended to live longer that way. The shadowrunners, in turn, tried to find out everything they could about their employer so that they could try and deduce whether or not they had been given all the facts. In this case, like so many others, that search had turned up absolutely nothing. The runners had accepted the job anyway, after having done some homework about it, because they were confident that they could deal with any unforeseen threats that arose. That was two days ago. Here and now, where the metal meets the meat, they simply had to hope for the best.  
Once at the door to the lab, Scratch tried to open it. No dice. He looked up at the camera about 10 feet down the hallway and tapped his feet. After about 3 seconds, there was an audible click and Scratch opened the door. The trio stepped inside and closed the door behind them.  
Johnson had told them that the vial they were looking for would be in a refrigeration unit in the room. The vial was labeled "V3 trial 2". There were several refrigeration units in the room, but it wasn't long before Pirate spoke up. "I found it."  
"Great! Let's get the frag outta here," said Scratch.  
As the trio moved toward the door, however,.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
.the drek hit the fan.  
Somewhere within the keep, a chorus of trumpets began blaring and suddenly the keep was awash with activity. Io heard more footsteps than he wanted to count coming down from upstairs. Then he was running. He ran past the hallway with the side door he had unlocked and caught a brief glance of 5 armed guards, rapiers drawn, with one more at the watch hole. He ran past toward the back door, but skidded to a stop when another 5 armed guards and one captain confronted him. Oh drek, oh drek, oh drek! Instantly his rapier leapt to his hand and he was fighting for his life.  
Two of the guards went down quickly, as Io fought with lightning speed. The remaining 3, however, were not proving as easy. It was then that he heard a small click. He glanced up toward the captain who had a pistol cocked and pointed at his head. Io did the only thing he could think of to do.  
The man in the cement room snapped out of the trance that he was in and instantly recoiled from the incessant pounding in his head. The "kill" switch he had installed on his cyberdeck was blinking due to its use. He had made a wise investment, for a headache is infinitely more preferable than a dirt nap 6-feet under.  
Doing his best to ignore the incessant pain in his head, he grabbed his cyberdeck and bedroll, and went outside to his car. Flipping the autopilot switch, he began his trip back to the safehouse, hoping his friends would get lucky.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Shadowchaser stopped them all with a gesture. "Voices. Down the hall. They're getting closer." What he heard next, however, made his blood run cold. Listening through the door, he heard what sounded like many heavy weapons being cocked. Pirate must have heard it too, because he instantly began muttering under his breath, "Frag it, frag it, frag it!"  
All three of them began looking around the room for another way out. The only thing apparent was going through the ceiling and trying to find another room to be in.preferrably one with a window. They all climbed up, went through the lowered ceiling tiles, and began crawling in the direction that they thought would lead them toward a wall. Over the com, the team heard Skidz in a panicked voice. "Guys, time to go. I've got drones all over my hoop. Star is probably en route."  
"Not now, Skidz. Security's here. Working on an exit. Leave if you have to," said Scratch.  
"Oh, drek. Roger that," Skidz replied.  
"Shadow, a distraction would be helpful right about now," said Pirate, worried about the security forces below them. It wouldn't take them long to figure out where the trio had gone.  
"Way ahead of you, shorty." A few muttered words later, the runners heard a large screech further down the hallway they were above. Several footsteps ran off toward it and in the distance, several heavy weapons could be heard firing. The runners crawled over the hallway, careful to not make a sound, as there were likely still Seretech security guards below. Having made it to another room, they removed the ceiling panel and dropped down. Scratch immediately moved to the window. After looking at it for a couple of seconds, he looked at Pirate and nodded.  
Pirate moved to the window and began wiring it with plastique. Scratch turned to Shadowchaser. "You're in the middle. Pirate'll go first, then you and I'll bat cleanup. Move fast and quiet. Let's get out of this in one piece, then we'll figure it out." Shadowchaser nodded.  
Pirate turned and moved quickly away from the window toward a large, heavy lab table. "Fire in the hole," he said, emotionless, professional. He blew the window and immediately ran toward it and leaped through to the pavement outside, drawing his Remington as he did. Shadowchaser went next and as Scratch moved to jump out the window, the door burst open. The guard only saw a shape moving toward the window before the 9mm shell entered his brain. Scratch dove out the window after his companions.  
Outside, 3 guards were waiting. Two of them were drawing their weapons and one was lying on the pavement on his back, the bullet wound from Pirate's Remington leaving a bloody red stain on the cement. The other two guards might have created problems for the two runners if behind them Scratch had not gotten through the window shooting. The two guards were dead before they could even draw their weapons. Scratch picked up Shadowchaser and looked at Pirate. "Move it!"  
Pirate turned to follow Scratch in running for the open streets, but not before he had pitched a frag grenade in the now open window. As the runners melted back into the shadows, The grenade blew up the flammable chemicals in the lab, lighting up that section of downtown Omaha. The shadows didn't even notice. 


	2. Chapter 1: Tying Up Loose Ends

Chapter 1: Tying Up Loose Ends  
  
The silence in the room was interrupted at the sound of a small beep. The man in the tall-backed, leather executive chair swiveled around to look at his desk where a small screen had risen. He pressed a button and a face materialized on the screen.  
  
"It has begun, sir," the man on the screen said.  
  
"You have the item?"  
  
"It will be in my possession shortly, at which time I will return."  
  
"And the group you sent."  
  
"They know nothing. The evidence will point to them. There will be nothing to trace it to us."  
  
"Excellent. Inform me of your departure."  
  
"I will, sir," and with that, the face winked out of existence.  
  
The man smiled. Everything was going according to plan. Manipulating these puny lifeforms was even easier than he'd imagined. He swiveled back and stared out the window into the vastness of space, dreams of home and his former life filling his mind. Soon enough, he thought, he'd make them all pay.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Back at the safe house, Io nursed his headache. Throwing up had helped, but he still felt like he had a hangover. His hands clutching the side of his head, he fought to sublimate the pain. He actually found himself doing rather well in this pursuit when the door slammed open. "OK, what the frag was THAT all about?!?!?" shouted a low voice. Io mumbled, "Quiet. Hurts." "Sorry, pal. Just a little pissed off right now after almost getting our hoops handed to us back there." Pirate dumped his ammo belts on the ground next to his Remington. Io just groaned. About that time, his world got steadily louder as Shadowchaser, Scratch, and Skidz walked through the door. "What in the hell just happened, Io ?!?!?!", shouted Skidz as he walked into the room. He felt a pang of guilt as he noticed Io's form sink down to a prone position on the couch, a large pillow covering his head. The groan told him it was dump shock, something unusual for Io but not unheard of. "Sorry chummer, but I mean, how the frag did they know something was up?" "Someone must have tipped them off, Skidz. I think it's time we get in touch with Winder again. I don't think it would have been him, but he could probably get a better feel for why this job went bad than we can." Winder was the team's fixer. Aside from providing job references, Winder occasionally provided gear at semi-reasonable prices and information at slightly less reasonable prices. He did, however, have a decent working relationship with the team, and had never (at least to their knowledge) purposely set them up. More than professional pride, it was bad for business. If word got out that a fixer set up a team on purpose to get hosed, the time it took for his business prospects to vanish into thin air couldn't even be clocked by the nova-hot SPU's that Fuchi was selling these days.  
Pirate sat down next to Io and pulled out their quarry, the small vial they picked up on the run. It seemed to him a small thing, only about 10 inches long and less than an inch in diameter. The white label clearly read "V3 Trial 2", the liquid inside was clear and slightly viscous. He turned it in his hand, amazed that people would kill for something that looked so insignificant, that he would kill for the same thing was no small irony.  
Shadowchaser walked over to the vidphone to place the call to Winder. After about 30 seconds, he turned around to the rest of the group. "Um, guys. I think we have a problem." Normally when 'chaser said that, the team blew it off. Shadowchaser was very good at his namesake - chasing shadows. This time however, as they looked at him, they saw real fear in his eyes, supplementing the ever-present paranoia. "Winder's line's been disconnected. Within the last 10 minutes." Just then the red light by the door began ticking.  
3 months before, after a particularly lucrative run, Skidz had decided to purchase a perimeter alarm system for the safehouse. This system was completely isolated from the Matrix and the power supply for the system was located inside the building (supplemented with a backup-power generator that could last for several days at constant use). Several small motion sensors and covert cameras were placed around the small house to keep an eye out for unwanted guests. All of the fields of vision overlapped so that no one camera covered an angle by itself. All in all, it was one of the most expensive purchases that Skids had ever made (besides the team's van, of course). It was also the one thing that changed the course of the evening's events.  
The instant that the alarm started ticking (the sound it made was actually a semi-loud tick so as not to alert intruders that they were compromised), Scratch drew his gun and crouched, whispering, "Down everyone. Company." Everyone hit the floor and Skidz crawled over to the bookshelf where the video surveillance equipment was. What he saw amazed him as much as it scared him.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
A lone figure walked up to the house. This late in the night, all the rest of the occupants of this area of the city would be asleep. No sense drawing attention to himself, he thought as he screwed on the silencer of his custom made pistol. He assumed that the team would have security on the house. He also knew that it would not matter. He was the best there was at what he did. That was why his employer treated and paid him so well. That was why to all the world, Archangel did not exist.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
"One guy closing on the building. Pistol. Silencer. Looks custom. Frag guys, this guy has to be pro. He isn't even taking any precautions. It's like he doesn't even care if we have surveillance." Skidz said upon looking at the monitor. You could tell which guys you had to worry about in this business, at least in the profession that he assumed that man that had come to their door practiced. All you had to do was look into their eyes. You knew that that you were in trouble. You didn't stay alive long in this business without knowing who to avoid.  
"All right. Skidz, take Io and 'Chaser and get the van ready. Scratch and I will take this guy. Load heavy." Pirate said grimly as he drew his Remington. He and Scratch shared a look and Scratch nodded, holstering his pistol and un-slinging his Uzi III. The two took up positions down the hall from the entrance and the rest of the team went through the back door to the garage.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
All of the teams portable gear was located on racks in the garage of the house. It was fairly easy to get it into the van, after which they loaded Io and his deck which they took out of his car. Skidz got behind the wheel and jacked in, ready to go on a second's notice. He didn't have to wait long.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Pirate looked at Scratch, "Ready?" Scratch simply nodded and pointed his weapon down the hallway. At that moment the front door was kicked in. Scratch fired a burst at about chest height. The man who kicked in the door, however was lying prone, feet toward the two runners, and began firing his pistol. His first round was a bit wide, but the second was true and caught Pirate in the shoulder, spinning him around in his squatting position and depositing him hard against the wall that he was using as a shield. The man at the door rolled to the side to get out of the way before Scratch could correct his fire.  
"Frag it!", Pirate gasped through the pain. He pulled the pin on a smoke grenade and pitched it down the hallway. Scratch grabbed him, none too gently, and threw him over his shoulder as he moved toward the door leading to the garage. Scratch hopped unceremoniously into the van, depositing Pirate in the seat next to him and barked at Skidz, "Move it!"  
Skidz busted the van through the garage door that they had designed to break evenly going out but be reinforced were anyone to try and break through. As he screamed onto the street, Shadowchaser looked out the back window. He could see the lone figure staring back at them through the tinted van window, smoke swirling about his legs, and Shadowchaser could almost feel the cold smile. 


End file.
